The Song Fight Bulletin Board

My girlfriend is wanting to learn how to play the bass. I have a bass. I lost my bass combo amp when I broke up my last band. I am looking for suggestions of dirtcheap combo amps for the bass guitar. The advice "just go on down to a local place that sells music and try out a bunch of stuff!!!!11!!!" is horrible advice for me, as I have no idea what I need to be listening for. It does not need to be very loud, as the only place she will be playing for the time being is in her living room, loud enough for her to her but not loud enough for her neighbors to call the cops. She is not interested in funky bass playing, but like cool-girl Kim-bass playing.

Any help you could be in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Just go down to the local place that sells music and get the cheapest thing they have.

Honestly, whatever it is will probably be fine. Probably one 8" speaker and something like 15-30 watts. A CD input is probably a nice feature to look for. Most practice amps ought to have that, too, so you can play along to all your favorite Pixies tunes.

Umm. Most likely what the music store will have is either by Peavey or Crate, which are both gonna be decent and reliable. I'd stay away from Behringer, though they will probably have some cheap B. amps too. Don't pay more than about $75 new.

erik wrote:I lost my bass combo amp when I broke up my last band.

Heh, that's how I got my bass amp.

Ashdown makes nice stuff for cheap.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=485039

SWR is also nice:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=482036

If those are out of your budget, just go to the music store and buy whatever you can get.

Ken

I like the Pignose Hog 30 I just got. 20 Watts, 35 Watt peak. Two 1/4" line ins, one Headphone out, and a couple rechargeable batteries in the bottom that will play for several hours (i used it in a parade last week). Works great, haven't tried it with bass, but the zzounds blurb said "designed for acoustic, bass, and keys". It shreds with a guitar though. Nice and dirty, and pretty darn loud for all it's 35 watt peak power.

8" speaker.

$150, which I guess isn't dirt cheap.

JB

Teh best:

Fender Frontman 15b

http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?Pr ... Amplifiers

Swear to god. It effing rocks, and you know I'm a goddamn snob. 2nd bassist in my band had one of these at home, too. Handles volume better than the average small amp, and just has a really clear tone for what it is. I still use it for monitoring if my giant keyboard amp is going to be out in front of me.

Also sounds better with guitar than any of Fender's <25 guitar amps. Put a bluesdriver in front of it, and it's awesome.

Actually, my 'Worms' was my 15b mic'ed. God what was I thinking.

You can probably pick one up used for $50 or less.

15" speakers on bass amps suck. GET AN 18.


Actually, those fender combo amps ARE very nice, deceptively so (as they say "fender" on it... I know, I know, that's a scary thought for a bass rig)

But they DO sound pretty hot. Too bad you're on a budget though... their two 10 combo is pretty dynamite...and it'd do ya for practice, jamming, small gigs, I believe you can add a nice 18 to it for larger shows... and it sounds pretty nice.

Of course, I'd take my edens over that any day...but wtf, you're on a budget. Now if I can talk the dude down on the marshall jcm 800 combo amp... (he wants 200... I said 125..it's got no tubes and it's open backed, so ... 125...)


Good luck with the amp. JUST DON'T BUY A PEAVEY.